Former Hardo-in-Chief Dallas Braden retires

by sanjosebarstool

CSN Bay Area – Dallas Braden always made for a good story, and it went beyond that magical Mother’s Day afternoon when he threw the Major Leagues’ 19th perfect game.

His personal background was compelling. His quotes were usually off the wall and hilarious. Anytime Braden was around, you wanted your notebook open and your tape recorder on.

The former A’s left-hander made news once again Tuesday, when he told the San Francisco Chronicle that he is retiring after battling left shoulder problems for the past three years.

“There is nothing left in there, it’s just a shredded mess,” Braden was quoted. “I left my arm on the mound at the Coliseum, and I’m OK with that.”

His 26-36 career record and 4.16 ERA over five seasons hardly stands out, and that’s what made May 9, 2010, such an incredible day in A’s lore. Braden retired 27 consecutive Tampa Bay Rays to author just the second perfect game in franchise history.

Well sucks that there’s nothing left in your shoulder as I’m sure you would have loved to plunk A-rod a few more times before you stepped off for the final time. Dallas Braden essentially has come to encapsulate a lot of what the A’s are about now which is flashes in the pan spans of greatness followed by an even faster free fall. Not just the team, but the players too and Dallas is certainly an example of this.

That being said, If I had only a few short years to be a major leaguer, as a pitcher, you can’t write a better script than what this guy did. Pitches a perfect game on mother’s day with his grandmother watching him (his mom died when he was a teenager) and came to immortalize the anti-A-rod zeitgeist movement by yelling at perhaps the most well known baseball in the world to “get off his mound.” Bravo, Dallas, bravo. Not often you get to be remembered for being a source of pride and inspiration as well as being a raging hardo with an overinflated sense of self. Having one of only 19 perfect games in baseball history is a very, very select club.